It made sense.
Jining hadn't made any move. Instead, Old Master Li had volunteered. The change drew a brief note of admiration from Fu Qian.
Of course, he wasn't trying to steal the fruits of victory or swoop in at the last moment. They were nowhere near the point of reaping any rewards.
The old master clearly wanted to help shoulder the risk.
For one thing, all their deductions so far suggested that the target ahead was truly astonishing.
Meanwhile, the dagger's strange behavior showed, to some extent, that Jining's tracking method had become unreliable.
Taken together, the possibility that the statue ahead concealed some danger was impossible to ignore.
And Fu Qian's ability to draw the dagger proved the clues might not belong to Jining alone. At a moment like this, sending the team's strongest fighter to take the lead was a small but sensible precaution amid all the dangers.
"Touch the surface with any part of your body."
With the old master being so eager to help, Fu Qian saw no reason to waste time.
The moment the other man finished speaking, Fu Qian pointed at the statue and casually explained how to use it.
"That's much simpler. I was worried I'd have to climb up there. That might've been a little disrespectful."
Ignoring the varied expressions of the others, the old master strode forward, even making a joke as he did.
If this had truly been made by a craftsman, it would unquestionably have been a masterpiece.
Fu Qian stood beneath the statue just a step behind Old Master Li, and studying it up close only deepened his admiration.
Its size was one thing, but from here, the finer details were much clearer.
Though the statue was a seamless whole, its armor seemed to have been